MOA Museum of Art

MOA Museum of Art is a museum located on a hillside in Atami, on elevated ground overlooking Sagami Bay. It focuses on collecting and exhibiting East Asian art, including paintings, sculptures, and crafts. Its collection totals about 3,500 works, including 3 National Treasures such as Ogata Korin’s masterpiece “Red and White Plum Blossoms Screen,” and 67 Important Cultural Properties. The views from the museum are also spectacular: from the main lobby and plaza you can see a broad panorama of Sagami Bay with Hatsushima and Izu Oshima floating in the distance. The museum was renovated in 2017; the interior blends modern design with traditional Japanese materials such as Yakusugi cedar, black plaster, and tatami—worth seeing in itself. The expansive grounds also include a Japanese garden famous for autumn leaves, a restaurant, and a cafe where you can enjoy sweets by a well-known pastry chef, making it feel like a resort. From JR Atami Station, museum-bound buses run (about 7 minutes). By car it’s about 5 minutes from the station. From the entrance to the main building, you travel via underground escalators—passing through features like a tunnel of light and sound and a hall with kaleidoscope visuals that build excitement even before entering the galleries.